Lake County has a new prosecutor. After a nearly four-month vacancy, Thomas Evans was sworn in as the next prosecutor for the northwest lower Michigan county Tuesday morning. Evans comes to Lake County after serving as the prosecutor for Luce County in the eastern Upper Peninsula.
During the transition period, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office helped prosecute cases in Lake County. But Evans told WCMU there’s still a backlog of cases that need his attention.
“A large goal of mine is to make sure all of the victims are satisfied and their complaints are filed as expeditiously as possible,” Evans said. "Justice delayed can be justice denied. And to the extent we can get those complaints in front of a judge, the faster we can do it well, the better."
According to the Newberry News, Evans is a 28-year attorney and a Michigan native. He has 16 years of experience in prosecution. He served as the prosecutor in Barry and Montmorency counties and as the assistant prosecutor in Clare County.
Lake County Sheriff Richard Martin said he’s optimistic Evans will do a good job. Marin hopes the new prosecutor will put the interest of the people first and not allow big cases fall by the wayside.
“When we have big cases and they’re not even being prosecuted there’s a time when the prosecutor is supposed to step up and do his job,” Martin said. "[We’ve had] some big cases that were either botched or never prosecuted that should have that have been sitting on the desk for quite some time… so we're actually going to be re-submitting those cases as well."
Evans’ appointment marks the end of the attorney general’s office time assisting in prosecuting cases in Lake County. In an emailed statement to WCMU, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel congratulated Evans on his new job and was proud of her office for stepping up to help the county.
“Above all I want to be fair to all involved,” Evans said.
